- Resurrecting the flatlining pharma industry – In 2008, there were 800,000 medical papers published and 21 drugs approved by the FDA. Something of a disparity between amount of effort and productive output, you might say. So, why has drug discovery flatlined and how can we drag it out of the valley of death and revitalise it? Despite significant increases in funding, the advent of genomics, computerized molecular modelling, high-throughput drug screening and synthesis drug submissions (and so approvals) are at an all time low. For a discovery to reach the threshold where a pharmaceutical company will move it forward what’s needed is called “translational” research — research that validates targets and reduces the risk, according to David Bornstein's NYT Opinion piece aimed at fixing the industry.
Selected from the latest science stories to hit DB’s virtual desktop @sciencebase.